So if you have money and need to be a co-driver / sponsor and get yourself a place in a land speed racecar- here is your ride! email Dan Sallia at dsallia@yahoo.com or call him at 805-550-7758
Dan has a “Bucket List” with 4 items on the list. #4 is simply the dream to drive a Studebaker at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The first opportunity was a ’53 Coupe, but that fell through. Then a fellow Stude enthusiast contacted Dan. He said that he had just purchased “an old Bonneville car” from eBay. This guy offered to loan Dan the car to fulfill his Bucket List Dream #4.
After doing some research on the Avanti, it was the World Famous #90 Bill Burke car, the same Bill Burke who ran the first Belly Tank Lakester in land speed racing.
Bill Burke bought the car while working for Hot Rod Magazine in 1962. It was delivered to Grantell Enterprises and came with a 229 cu in Paxton blown engine in the car and a 304 cu in engine in a crate. The car was born to break records at Bonneville, literally, as the President of Studebaker assigned the car for this specific purpose, Land Speed Racing.
The above text is excerpted from http://www.myrideisme.com/Blog/burke-bros-bonneville-bucket-list-studebaker-avanti
Andy Granatelli is providing technical assistance, and once the Avanti competes in the next year or two it will spend time in the Granatelli Studebaker museum, among others... like the Wally Parks NHRA museum in Pomona
More information can be found on http://www.racingstudebakers.com/foo/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1855
